The Penn's Grove record., 1887-04-02
POOR %PILUQUESNE.

CleSterfleiQ Is the llCLle sleepy IONll III
the Midlands, with the crooked spire,
which lies amidst a congeries of golfers
and coal pits, and which you may see
from the railway, midway between Der
by and Sheffield.
Many years ago, in the midst of the
peninsular war, a numb r OF French
prisoners were inferred t. ere.
Many years ago a famous company OF
players was acting there in the dingy
little theater down a back yard.
One night, when 1.-THE Maggie, or the
Maid of Pallseau," was act d, it was
noted that some half dozen of the exiles,
in whom the name of the play doubtless
evoked some memory of their native
land, came and paid their hardly hoard.
ed pence to the gallery. Poor fellows!
They took their pleasures as sadly as if
they had been Englishmen of the Fen
country.
The performer who interested them
NEST was the magpie. When she fled
across the stage with the spoon in her
mouth they a~pplauded incoatlmently.
At her next @ria flight she struck mid
way on the wire, and the curtain had to
descend in order to extricate her from
this perplexing p~redicament. The mana
ger, an Irishman and a great actUr in
his time, stood at the back of the gallery
Ia very scant onel, and wrathfully OBJ
jur ated the property man, adding
various oaths to his seed, breed and
generation, Up went the curtain again,
and once more the maybe tried her
fight, but in vain, and the play hal to
end as best it cou d without the aid of
so important a performer.
AT this moment a fair, fragile boy of
seventeen, with haxen hair and great
blue eyes with black lashes and eye
brows, timidly approached the irate
impressario. The lad was in a much
worn and stained French naval uniform.
There was a hectic flush on his cheek,
and he coughed slightly, as, taking, off
his cap, he bowed politely to the mana
ger. Then in the prettiest broken Eng
fish he commenced:
Pardon mile pardons, Monsieur
Directeur, la pauvre maybe no fly
straight. / make her skim along like a
leetle butterfly"
"Ah! be off wild your broken down
English, boy" said the manager.
''Spake to me in the language of La
Be la France. Sure, Pm a native, and
to the manne born, for l got my two
pennorth at Douay. lei en- parle Fran
Gals, Ici!" he exclaimed, with a furious
Irish accent, as he placed his hand on
his capacious chest.
Thus urged, the boy explained yolubly
in his native tongue that he would I'M
dertake to make the magpie fly across
the stage without difficulty.
The next minute they were behind
the scenes. AS they approached the
property room the manager roared:
"Larryl Larry Come out 20 that,
you thief of the world. / wonder you're
not ashamed to lux me in the face!"
81 am that same, your HONOR" re-
sponded the man, ''but sure 1T was nj
Larry's fault that some blackguard was
afther sticking a tinpenny nail in the
ould magpie's gizZard. Bad luck to her
for n haste of a bird apyhowE'
"Wel here's a young gentleman all
the way from France who's goin' to set
the crayture r ght.n said the manager.
The French lad bowed ing~ratiatingly;
and glanced wistfully at the property
man, who at first looked daggers; then
he growled:
"Young gintlemanl Shure if it wasn't
for the trousers, it's a young lady he'd
be afther maxim, and a beauty, too.
All, WE'LL P'raps his father was in Ban
try Bay in '98 wild Gineral Hoche and
the Shan van Voght and the rest of the
bhoys. Anyhow, he's a stranger
among these numbering Sassenachs, so
give us a taste of your fist, ma bouccha-
leen bawnln With that he nearly
squeezed the lads hand to a pulp.
Whatever pain he endured he only
looked up and smiled. The smile went
straight to Larry's heart, and from that
they were brothers. In five minutes the
boy put the magpie right.
From that time forth he was scarcely
ever out of the .thtater. He soon made
himself useful in a hundred ways to
honest Larry, who, although he couldn't
speak a word of French, was a capital
pantomimist, and succeeded in making
himself understood. Whenever he came
to a dead hitch he went to the beautiful
Miss We're, the leading lady, who nd
been educated in a convent in the lower
countries and who spoke French, Ger
man, Italian, Dutch and Walloon as
fluently as her mother tongue.
Then the manager, who had taken to
the stranger, was always on hand with
his atrocious Hibernian French; besides
which poor Piluquesne THAT was the
lads name) spoke many English words,
and the youngsters of the theater sp k
many French ones-yeIy badly, it is
true, but still intelligibly enough.
They generally called him Poor Pill, "
OF Pill for shortness.
He told them that he was "the only
son of his mother, and she was a wild
ow," and that he had been a midship-
man in the French navy. lie was at
liberty most Of the day, but had to re-
port himself every night at quarters
prior to lookup hours.
At last, when the end of the season